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26 - This Will Be The Death Of You

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Senesio

I hit the ground with the grace of an acrobat, then tucked forward into a perfect roll. The spongy soil had absorbed the force of my landing, not that I’d needed it to. I rose to my feet beside the others, still cradling the soon-to-be explosive waterskin to my chest. Suni had impressed me with her plan, I had to admit. Or—well, it was more of an idea. The start of a plan which I, in typical fashion, had grown into a full-on strategy. A way out of this mess.

There were more wet thumps behind me—sounded considerably less graceful than my own landing—as the rest of the survivors left the tree. Now it was truly a party.

“Shields on me!” Elpida shouted from a few steps ahead. By the light of the flame, my hawk-like eyes easily picked out her form. She was slashing at something unseen in the darkness. A shadow, long and tall and far faster than her sword strokes.

“I’d advise closing your eyes,” I shouted, then pegged the wendiguar with the burning waterskin. Light exploded through the Thick as I ducked away, covering my face. Heat blossomed out in a rolling flame and the world burned orange. Wherever the rum went, fire followed, bringing light to the darkness as if the sun itself had come raining down through the canopy. For a moment, at least.

Birds, insects, and all manner of other small creatures that had known nothing but darkness their entire existence hissed and chirped, howled and screeched, fleeing in all directions. All of that paled, however, in comparison to the scream of the wendiguar. Like a woman in pain, at first, until it grew so loud all I heard was the ringing of my ears.

“Ancestors above, that’s annoying.” I shook the sound away, or tried to.

Our screaming, unwelcome visitor wasn’t alone, I realized as the fire burned on. There were three wendiguars, maybe more. I only caught a quick glimpse of their backs as they scrambled away from the light. Quick beasties, they were, but I didn’t need much more of a look to know the stories of their appearance were mostly true.

They were human in size and shape, mostly. Skinny, stretched-out things with skin as dark and rough as the bark of a dying tree. When they stood, their arms hung past their knees and ended in human-like hands with claws long and sharp as knives. The face was where things really got interesting, though. Shriveled and shot through with creases, they had the look of grandmother Nicolaou. Withered to the point of death, but too stubborn to die on anyone else’s terms. Though, to be fair, my grandmother didn’t have giant owl-eyes that reflected light, nor a mouth with rows and rows of curved-back incisors. Didn’t mean she hadn’t been known to bite, though. I shook the thought from my mind and drew my attention back to the scene at hand.

By the light of the fire, I could get a proper look at the situation on the ground. The fool of a sergeant, Kyriakos, looked injured, was down on one knee with what must have been a bite mark on his shoulder. Hard to tell through the blood. Beside him, though, was Theo.

Ancestors above. She was alive! Looked like hell, but she was alive. And as the ever-diligent second in command, she was checking the sergeant’s wounds while Elpida and Oz guarded them, back to back with their swords drawn.

“Good to have you back, Corporal,” I said.

She grunted, but her focus was on Kyriakos as he climbed to his feet. One hand was clasped to his chest where his shirt had been reduced to ribbons. Blood stained the fabric and ran down over his hand in several steady streams.

“Can you move toward me? Follow my voice,” Leda called from the brush.

“They... they got Leda,” Theo said, and there was a weight to her words.

“Good to have you back, Theo,” Elpida said, and it sounded like she meant it. A moment later and she spat to the side. “But they’re going to get all of us as soon as that fire burns out.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Good thinking, though,” Oz said, nodding to the flickering flames of the rum. I gave a half bow.

“Suni’s owed some thanks as well. It was her idea initially, I just... expanded on it. And anyway, I couldn’t let my good friends be torn apart by such foul beasts,” I said, placing a hand over my heart. After all, we needed the guides to lead us to the outpost. They were the only ones who knew the way.

“About that whole being torn apart thing,” Suni said, cringing. Even as she spoke, the flames from the waterskin burned lower, running out of rum and finding no fuel on the soggy ground. With each moment, the shadows that surrounded us, previously beaten back by the light, drew in closer. I could sense the wendiguars following them. They were frightening creatures to most people, but really, it seemed that they were just predictable. Hide in the darkness, mimic some words, pounce for a kill. A simple enough formula.

There was a flash of movement in the brush to the left. A wendiguar darting past, or a branch shaking in the wind. Impossible to tell. Theo turned towards it, shield raised.

“They’re coming back!”

“They’re coming back!” Her own voice echoed back from the bushes.

“They’re coming back!” Then again from off to the right.

“Emperor have mercy. How many are there?” Maritza said, backing away from the voices.

“How many?” Her own voice answered back from the brush directly behind her. She yelped and turned, eyes wide in the dying light of the fire.

“We get it, you can mimic voices. We’re all very impressed,” I shouted out to them. “Oh,” I turned to Maritza. “And there’s three, by my count.”

“One wendiguar is dangerous. Three is a massacre.” Elpida growled, hand clenched white around the grip of her sword.

As if on cue, one of the smoked-jerky-skinned wretches burst from the brush at the edge of the fire’s light. I had just enough time to blink before it slammed into Theo. Splinters flew as the wendiguar raked a claw across her shield, the blow driving her stumbling backwards.

“Son of a swindler!” she cursed, but the creature was already gone, only a few palm fronds waving gently where it had disappeared back into the Thick. A moment later she held up the shield to reveal it’d been pierced; four distinct claw marks torn all the way through the wood.

A branch snapped and I caught another blur of brown skin and green eyes as it slashed at the group from behind. Gabar caught the blow on his shield with a grunt, then swung his sword at the monster. He might as well have been striking at the air. He didn’t even get close as the wendiguar darted back into the darkness.

“There’s no way we can fight these things,” Gabar said, eyes flicking from spot to spot, startling at every suggestion of movement in the jungle.

“We need to get back up the tree,” Maritza said. “Quick, before we lose the fire.” She made a move towards the trunk and a scream tore through the Thick. A claw flashed and a great section of bark was torn away at head level.

“I think they’ve caught on to the tree plan,” Sergeant Kyriakos said, one arm holding a bundle of ripped shirt to the bleeding wounds in his chest.

“So we fight our way there,” Theo said.

I laughed at that. Long and loud. That got everyone’s attention.

Good.

It was hero time.

“Even if we make it up the tree, I’m afraid our unwelcome visitors won’t be particularly inclined to leave.” I nodded to the bloody rags pressed to the sergeant’s chest. “Not with him smelling of an easy meal. If anything, waiting will only attract more of them.”

“You have a better idea, then?” Gabar spat.

“The best idea,” I said, and flashed them all my most confident smile. “And what’s more, it just might work.”

Elpida scrunched her face up in suspicious dread, but I was already in action.

“Mind if I borrow this?” I pulled Gabar’s shield from him before he could respond, then slung it across my back and pulled the straps tight. Next, I patted my pocket, feeling for the javelin-charge bag. Still there, good.

“The hell are you doing?” Elpida was scowling at me.

“The hell are you doing? The hell are you doing?” Her voice called all around us from one, two, three directions, at least.

“Run for the Evergrass,” I said, marking in my mind which direction it was, then turning diagonally away from it. “I’ll meet you there.”

“Meet us there?” Suni said, stepping forward. “Are you crazy?”

“Don’t worry, Suni. I’ll regale you with all the death-defying details once I’m back.” I winked, then pushed past her.

“Sergeant? Your shirt, please.” I held out one hand. Kyriakos looked at me, seemingly confused by the simple request. “Time’s wasting, man!” I nodded to the dwindling light of the fire, then snapped my fingers. “Your shirt.”

The torn and bloody garment slapped into my hand.

“Much obliged,” I said, then wiped the fabric on my chest and face, smearing the sticky, still-damp blood, and its scent, all over me.

“Senesio.” Elpida said, stepping close, her voice low. “This will be the death of you.”

“She’s right,” Suni said, also stepping up. “You can’t escape those things.”

I laughed, then turned toward the others and gave a bow with a flourish.

“No one go dying on me while I’m away, huh?” I said, then sprinted into the darkness.